Brooms are common tools used to clean floors and a wide variety of other surfaces and objects.
Conventional push brooms typically comprise bristles attached to a broom head that is secured or otherwise mounted on a handle. Push brooms are commonly used to brush or push debris on a floor, usually by applying a pushing or pulling force to the broom. In order to facilitate their use, push brooms typically have handles that extend from the broom head at an oblique angle, allowing a user to stand behind the broom head, with the bristles in contact with the floor or surface for easier pushing and pulling.
Where fine dirt or debris is to be swept, traditional upright brooms are often utilized. Upright brooms typically comprise relatively fine, soft, bristles that can at times be more effective than those of push brooms for capturing fine debris. The broom heads of upright brooms are often smaller than the broom heads of push brooms. Upright brooms therefore tend to be more easily maneuvered into corners and tight spaces. Further, the handles of upright brooms tend to extend upwardly from the broom head in a manner that is generally aligned with the bristles. Because the soft bristles are easily bent, users need not stand behind the broom head when using an upright broom. Rather, the broom can be swung in a pendulum-like manner such that the bristles sweep the floor surface. Upright brooms also tend to be simpler to manoeuvre when sweeping debris into a dust pan.
In some cases, there may be a need to remove liquids or semi-solid products (e.g., paint) from a floor or surface. In such cases, brooms may be less effective at removing the product than other cleaning implements, such as squeegees. Where product has hardened and adhered to a surface (e.g., dried paint) a broom will tend to be ineffective in its removal. In those instances, a scraper tool may be used to scrap the material from the surface. Any loosened debris resulting from the scraping action may then be swept with a broom.
It is often desirable to sweep or clean a variety of different types of debris. Typically, when faced with having to sweep or clean many different types of debris (for example, as may occur on a construction site), it is necessary to use a variety of different cleaning tools. In such cases users will often need to switch between tools while cleaning, increasing the time required to clean a site, decreasing worker efficiency, and generally increasing operating and capital costs.